Minecraft Education Edition coming to school

News

Minecraft has already turned up pretty much everywhere, including all major consoles, your PC and even your mobile phone. Well now it's heading into schools.

Microsoft has just announced Minecraft Education Edition, which is designed to bring the best of the game and offer it up as a tool for use in school. It's clear that millions of kids already use Minecraft on a regular basis and there's a huge advantage to bringing that kind of familiarity into an education enviroment.

In the classroom, students might be able to go from talking about the theory of space and volume to being able to illustrate it by walking around and interacting with a 3D world. Microsoft is also putting digital study guides in place which have been professionally built - like a detailed model of the human eye or recreations of historical periods.

Here are some enthusiastic teachers talking about the new software.

While it might have been interesting to hear from the kids themselves, there's no doubt that giving students a new perspective on information gathering can only help the education process. And Microsoft wants to make it clear that they're not changing the title too much - they want Minecraft to continue as a game, and to continue making them shedloads of money in the process.

Minecraft Education Edition is set for release in mid 2016 and will cost $5 per student.